City program lets residents report unsafe streets

Have you noticed drivers don’t always stop for pedestrians at a certain intersection? Or that vehicles travel too fast on the street you live on?

To help resident report unsafe roadways, the city of Petaluma has launched an online program allowing them to “nominate” streets in town that are of special concern.

The “Safe Streets Nomination Program,“ launched earlier this month, allows residents to report unsafe streets using an online form, available through the city website by going to cityofpetaluma.org/safe-streets-nomination-program.

Using the form, residents can describe their roadway of concern, upload images, and even upload documents such as petitions or letters showing neighborhood support.

“It all culminates with this idea that we need to give our community a voice and create systems and protocols for them, rather than just emails and phone calls and service requests, which can all kind of get lost in the shuffle,” explained Christopher Bolt, director of public works and utilities for Petaluma.

“We needed a way to have people put in their ideas, their requests, and then for our team to have a way to prioritize those projects and put a plan together to address them,“ he said.

To access the form in a language other than English, residents can click the globe button at the top right, where a drop-down menu with different languages will appear.

Issues such as drivers not yielding to pedestrians or posted signs, obstructed sight or speeding, among others, can be selected on the form.

City staff will review nominations on a rolling basis and use a scoring system to determine which projects will be prioritized, designed and implemented throughout the year. If a project is selected, nominators will then be contacted, according to the project website.

Nominations are scored based on whether there are collisions, evidence of speeding, dangerous behavior in proximity to schools or parks, or other factors.

It’s all part of a city effort to reach one of its top 10 goals: making city streets safe. The project also supports the Sonoma County Vision Zero Action Plan, a commitment to reach zero severe injuries or fatalities from traffic incidents by 2030, according to the safe streets website.

“All things (regarding) active transportation are very important to us. For wellness, but also for achieving our climate action goals and just quality of life in our community,” Bolt said.

Those wishing to report unsafe streets but who are unable to fill out the online form may email the city at safestreets@cityofpetaluma.org or call the Public Works Department at 707-778-4303.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or jennifer.sawhney@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @sawhney_media.